The high costs of unskilled people

Open borders libertarians and neoconservatives often speak of the great benefits of having a large supply of "cheap labor." The problem with "cheap labor" is that it is not really cheap labor at all, but subsidized labor. For example, in California, education alone costs nearly $7,000 per kid, per year.[1] Given that the typical Hispanic mother has 3 kids (it is probably higher for the poorest Hispanics), we're already talking about a cost of $21,000+, more than many unskilled immigrants make in salary, much less pay in taxes.[2] This doesn't include other services, both "welfare" type services such as health care and housing assistance, and other services, such as law enforcement (including police, courts, and jails), and transportation (new roads and highways, public transportation). Increased population also means that pollution will increase and/or stricter environmental controls will need to be enacted, which can also be expensive. Another problem with immigration and population increase in general is that it helps to push housing prices higher.

But why stop ourselves with an analysis of new unskilled people -- why not look at the people we already have who are unskilled?

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However, one thing that Genghis Khan was which we should all emulate: a diehard realist.

When his armies conquered a city, he kept his troops from raiding and pillaging and sent in his administrators instead. They performed a simple task: divide the population between skilled labor and unskilled.

The realist principle behind this is simple. Adults who have found something to be good at are both competent and driven; adults who have created nothing, learned nothing and can only be told what to do are not only useless, but also are the groundwork of revolutions.

Because they have nothing to do, no direction of their own, and mismanage everything they have, unmotivated, unintelligent and unskilled people are always told what to do.

They performed a simple task: divide the population between skilled labor and unskilled.

Hardly a simple task. I don't think the division between skilled and unskilled was intended as the Amerika article uses it. It's just a division between people who work with their hands and those who don't. It doesn't mean they can't be talented at what they do or be good citizens. Besides, I don't think I've met anyone who I'd consider unskilled at anything at all unless you count the disabled.